


KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE

by liquidcourage



Series: In which Matt Holt flirts with half the rebel coalition [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Matt Holt is Horny on Main and Somehow It Works Out, Prompt Fill, Short Story Slam 2019, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 19:35:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20087623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liquidcourage/pseuds/liquidcourage
Summary: Matt Holt was just a rebel on a mission -- read: trying to get laid -- unfortunately for him, he has a price on his head, and he chose to hit on the bounty hunter. He always did have impeccable taste.





	KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE

**Author's Note:**

> from the short story slam prompt found [here](https://ezwriting.tumblr.com/post/186734629761/prompt-1)  
Your protagonist discovers they’re on a date with a wanted criminal

Matt is pretty notorious at this point, but he can still get away without disguises on some busier planets as long as he pays attention to his surroundings and keeps a weapon up his sleeve, especially when he's in a crowded club and out of his rebel regalia. Pretty much everyone's drunk or trying to get laid or both, and very few people are interested in thinking about bounties and criminals. Even rebels need a break. That's why he's here, of course. He's sipping on a glowing white drink -- it's a bit too strong and sweet but Matt's no coward, and he intends to drink the whole ass drink eventually. 

For now, though? He's pleasantly buzzed and scoping out potential hot dates. He's crossing off the ones that are of races far smaller or larger, if only to avoid having to figure out the logistics of such a thing tonight. He's looking for casual and easy -- he already has to think too much, trying to figure out how compatible he is with a first night stand. Space makes these things difficult. 

Ah, that one has potential, he thinks, as he makes eye contact with a relatively humanoid man with purple skin and white hair. He's always been weak for a man with a bit of muscle. And well, the aviator cap is always a good touch. He abandons his drink and crosses the short distance to Aviators' side. 

"Something must be wrong with my eyes, 'cause I can't seem to take them off you." Smooth, Matt. _ Smooth_. 

Aviators looks him up and down, and there's something in those brown eyes that Matt doesn't recognize. Whatever Aviators sees must be good though, because he grins and replies, "Gonna hit on me before I even know your name, huh? My name's Rolo -- gonna give me something to call you, or will I just have to call you Amber Eyes?"

"Matt will do just fine, but you can call me anything you want." He must admit -- he feels suave; it's not often he gets a positive reaction to his pickup lines.

"Matt. I like it." Rolo's leaning forward, looping an arm around Matt's shoulders as he sidles closer. "So, _ Matt_, you got a place to go back to?"

Oh, hell _ yes_, this is going in the right direction. He mentally pats himself on the back. Good choice, Matt, good choice. He runs a hand down Rolo's chest, and murmurs, "Got a little room in the Inn on the corner and a bed big enough for two."

"Sounds good. Wanna get out of here?"

Oh, _ hell yes_. Damn good job, Matt. He nods, perhaps a bit too eagerly, and lets Rolo steer him through the crowd and out the door. 

They make it a bit down the street before Matt starts to notice Rolo looking around -- his expression is unchanged, relaxed, but a perceptive person can tell he's looking for something, and something about that puts Matt on edge, sobers him right the fuck up. He runs his fingertips over the blades quite literally tucked away in his sleeves and feels reassured. He's far from defenseless, with or without a weapon -- and he's probably being paranoid, he tells himself. Too many run ins with the Galra will do that to anyone. Still, he doesn't keep his mind far from those blades.

It's when Rolo starts to guide them to an alleyway that the alarm bells really start going off in Matt's head.

"The Inn is that way." He points down the street and tries to give Rolo the benefit of the doubt. Matt knows where this is going. He knows, but he's still going to give Rolo a chance. For now.

"Yeah, this is just a shortcut. Less walking, y'know?" Rolo's body language and expression is still relaxed but Matt can see the way brown eyes dart to the side every so often.

Yeah, Matt knows where this is going. But he's always had a knack for getting into trouble and too much curiosity for his own good, and he wants to see why Rolo -- if that's even his real name -- is doing what he's doing.

"Okay, if you say so." Matt shrugs, and lets himself be directed down the alley. 

They make it halfway down before Rolo's got Matt pressed into the wall with his body. Matt laughs and gives Rolo a look up and down.

"Getting eager now, aren't we?" 

Matt's not stupid. He knows what this is. It's more fun to play the game, though.

"You've got a pretty high bounty on you, Rebel Comms Specialist. Nothing personal -- it's just business." Rolo's fishing around in his pockets -- looking for cuffs, Matt's sure.

"You're awful close for a bounty hunter. I'm wanted dead or alive -- but here you were, playing along like you wanted something else. Even now, you haven't tried to kill me." 

With one of his hands, he slides one of the little daggers out of his sleeve and into his palm. Before Rolo can speak, Matt's elbowing him in the stomach and sweeping his feet out from under him. Matt grins as he straddles Rolo and presses the blade to his throat. "Surely, you didn't think I got to where I am without being prepared, Rolo." 

"So what? You gonna kill me now?" Matt almost feels bad when he sees the minute signs of nerves on Rolo's face -- grit teeth and narrowed eyes. 

He pushes it down. Going back to the Galra would most likely be a death sentence, and Rolo would have done it all for money. Matt's only trying to stay alive -- if he has to kill Rolo. . . well, turnabout is fair play. But they aren't to that point yet. He'll see how this plays out first, he decides as he reaches into Rolo's pockets with his free hand and pulls out those cuffs.

"You were going to send me to my death in exchange for money. Why shouldn't I?" Play it cool, Matt, he tells himself as he shrugs his shoulders. He's in control now. 

"Huh. Didn't expect one of the 'good guys' to stoop to that level." 

"But it's fine when you do it, hm?" Matt rolls his eyes. This is just another desperate man, trying to get by -- but Rolo still would've sent Matt to his death. He doesn't feel bad calling him out on it.

"I never said I was one of the good guys." Rolo points out.

Matt smiles, twirling the cuffs around his finger. "Mm, yeah, you didn't. But you know, I don't think you're really a bad guy. Maybe you'd like to be. But if you wanted to hurt me, if you wanted to kill me, you would have already tried by now. Instead, you led me around and pushed me against a wall and fumbled with these little cuffs of yours. You don't strike me as a fumbling kind of guy, Rolo."

“What’re you tryna imply, Rebel?” Brown eyes squint at him, and Matt revels in knowing he has Rolo thinking.

“You don’t _ really _ want to help the Galra.” Matt keeps his tone, light, conversational -- he’s trying to emulate his mother. She always had a way of getting in people’s heads. Really, it was kinda fucked up. “I don’t think you _ really _ want to hurt anyone, either. You’re just trying to get by, aren’t you?”

“It’s the universe we live in.” Rolo shrugs, as much as one can when pinned to the ground with a knife to the throat. “I didn’t make it the way it is.”

“No, you just contribute to it.” Perhaps that was a bit harsher than Matt intended, but it wasn’t untrue.

“We all gotta make a living somehow.” And yes, Matt understood Rolo in that moment. Sometimes survival isn’t pretty. He knows -- but he’s not exactly happy that he was caught up in the crossfire. He knows that makes him a hypocrite. 

“Even at the expense of others?” 

“Don’t act like you’re not guilty of it, too.”

And Matt couldn’t argue with that, because it was true, and he couldn’t undo the times he was selfish to survive. But -- he could reach out with kindness.

He draws his knife back into his sleeve, and stands up, and holds out his hand to Rolo. Rolo looks at him suspiciously, but takes the proffered hand. Matt didn’t know what his choice that night would lead to, but he thought maybe it would lead to something great. It would be fun to see where this night went.

“Have you ever thought about joining the Rebel Coalition?”

“Not even once, Rebel.”

“Well, think about it now.” Matt pulls out a communicator. “Call me if you decide you want in. We always got room for the clever ones.”

It only takes a few quintants for Matt to get a call.

**Author's Note:**

> it totally ends with rolo joining the coalition. he brings nyma and beezer with him. matt continues to hit on rolo and also hits on nyma. 
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://ezwriting.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
